Those books written by Muslims tended to be badly produced, written by people whose grasp of the European language(s) was poor, directed at Muslim pupils only; therefore, they are specific (for example, “we must do wudu’) and not directed to the concerns of the non-Muslim teachers and pupils in Europe or to the syllabuses set. 

IQRA Trust went on to survey the books used in training teachers, and most of these were written by Orientalists of the past with strong anti-Muslim bias. IQRA’s survey, due to lack of funds, remains unpublished and now mainly inaccessible.

Falaturi’s findings were very similar. He said that the negative comments of the external, Western observer are not meant to be unfriendly. They are programmed by the deep-rooted negative image of Islam in Western culture, which seems to show everything negative can only stem from Islam. It is typical with this attitude that one can find only a little positive information about Islam in textbooks of these areas in the West, where one or another individual could learn from Islam. 

However, the picture is not without hope. Some Orientalists, like W. Montgomery Watt, have recanted on their previous views and now try to be fairer. Muslim scholars are now writing their own books on Islam in European languages and several well-researched books have exposed the bias against Islam in Western source literature. Some Muslims are now being asked to write for major educational publishers, and others, who used to write from a Christian viewpoint, like Rosalyn Kendrick and Professor Neal Robinson, have embraced Islam and written sympathetically about their chosen religion. There have been various series on BBC and Channel 4 TV (UK), as well as on CNN and other US channels, showing Islam in a more favorable light. In 2002, there was also a very good series in The Guardian newspaper, on Muslims in Britain , in 2002. 

School textbooks, though, remain a problem as they are expensive to produce and to buy—and schools are poor. Changing old library and teaching stock will take many years and much investment on the part of publishers and schools. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, IQRA Trust made a good start by commissioning the writing of a large number of books and work cards geared to mainstream schools and the UK National Curriculum, some of which have since been published and widely advertised to schools as an Islamic Resource Pack. IQRA and other Muslim organizations in the UK, like the Muslim Educational Trust, worked with official bodies to improve the curriculum for teaching Islam in mainstream schools. 

Muslim schools where Islam and Arabic are taught alongside the National Curriculum have been set up right across the country, but only two have gained any funding from the state so far, and only after long battles. Brother Yusuf Islam set up an Islamic Education Waqf (religious endowment) to help support Muslim schools and students. 

There is also the Islamic Home Schooling Advisory Network (IHSAN), a new organization to help mothers who want to teach their children at home.

At the request of a local education authority, IQRA Trust produced a major interactive, multimedia exhibition called The Islamic Experience, which has been touring the country since 1995. Between 1995 and 2000 it visited 17 different localities with repeated visits to two of these. This was highly acclaimed by all who visited it. It has been upgraded and re-launched this year. It is now on its fourth showing. After much initial investment, this exhibition is beginning to be self-supporting. There are plans currently being discussed for it to have a permanent home in Birmingham , right in the middle of the country.

There is also talk of making a copy to circulate in the US educational system, which has similar regulations about not promoting any one religion, but allowing education about religions. 

There is also another brave and enthusiastic attempt, by non-Muslim Mosaic International. It is to generate a video-touring exhibition, on the influence of Islamic learning on Europe. In fact, it has so far failed to gain adequate funding, in spite of much good will from many experts and influential people. 

There are many other Muslim organizations working to help schools teach Islam more successfully. Some of them were directly inspired by IQRA’s exhibition, like the Islamic Awareness and Education Project based in Wiltshire, the Cambridge Islamic Awareness Project, and a similar project in Norwich , all of which train and equip volunteers to respond to requests by schools for Muslim visitors. Several young Muslims’ organizations and local Muslim action groups are also setting up school visitors projects. IQRA Trust has produced a handbook for school visitors and has given training to some of these groups, and the trust itself sends out school visitors on request. 

IQRA Trust provides in-service training for teachers on request. Also, the Association of Muslim Schools UK and Eire, provide training courses for Muslim graduate teachers. 

The World Assembly of Muslim Youth has produced a very useful and informative exhibition called Discover Islam. It consists of 25 large posters and is popular with Muslim groups, local education authorities, schools, and prisons that run Islamic awareness days and weeks, or multicultural awareness events. 

As for the academic field, the Center of Islamic Studies in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London , has started a series of publications on the Qur’an. The Center for Islamic Studies in Oxford is working on a major Atlas of Islamic history. There are also some good, general introductory books by Muslim writers being circulated by various Muslim organizations. 

Also, there are several organizations broadcasting Islamic educational programs on radio, TV, and the Internet. Educational Islamic Web sites are offering Islamic books, videos, nasheeds, CD ROMs and other information, mainly for Muslim children. There is even a Muslim film company in Hollywood, USA. 

Still others are taking on the media by encouraging Muslims and sympathizers to write in, contradicting and complaining about biased media reporting. Muslim professionals are also getting jobs in the mainstream media and encouraging the production of sympathetic programs and educational materials about Islam. The BBC was offering expertise in return for investment to make suitable programs last year for its Islam season. 

The one thing almost all these worthy organizations and individuals, and others like them, have in common, is shortage of funding. To make a big impression you need big funding, and what funding there is seems to be declining rather than increasing. If people in the Arab world really want to help improve the image of Islam in the West, the most useful thing they can do is to raise funds for such organizations and encourage them in the good work they are already trying to do. 

For your further guidance, please try the following links:

-The Westernization of Islamic Education

-Decolonizing Contemporary Education  

-Islamic Schools & Education in the West

-Islamic or Public School, How to Decide

-Meeting the Challenge of Parenting in the West

-Schools for Girls: Yes or No?

-To Homeschool or Not to Homeschool?